Get the Best Materials for Your Home Extension

As the housing market continues to be a bit unpredictable, more and more people are looking to extending their existing homesrather than moving to a new, bigger one. Adding to the rear of the property can be a big benefit to the overall size of the property and the extra space can be used for a wide range of things with games rooms, home gyms andoffices for freelancersbeing particular popular. While trying to keep the budget down for your extension is always the aim, getting the best materials is also a huge benefit. So what are the best options?

Stone

Stone is perhaps the most expensive material to construct your extension but if you live in a conversation area, national park of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) then you might not have much choice. Listed buildings also require any extension (if it gets permission) to be in keeping with the original house and this often means stone.

There are advantages to stone, hence the reason it has been a building material for thousands of years. It’s tough, for starters and it’s very weather and moss resistant. Most of the time if stone is required for an extension, then it will be used as an exterior finish with other materials inside it and an insulating layer between the two.

Brick

Brick tops the list in terms of house construction materialsbecause it is highly versatile, cost effective and easy to obtain. If your house is brick built, then you will often want the extension to fit in with it and look much the same. It is common for cheaper, less finished bricks to be used in construction and finished with a finer quality, more expensive brick outside, similar to what is done with stone.

Block

Block or breeze block is without doubt the cheaper construction material but doesn’t look so great so is usually finished with something a little fancier such as brick or stone. Block is ideal for modern dual-layer walls and can even be finished with a layer of rendering for a modern look.

Glass

Glass is most often associated with conservatories but there are some modern designers who are using more glass in their extensions. This can make the area more energy efficient, gaining heat and light from the sun and retaining this through the use of double glazing. Glass also looks very decorative although isn’t as popular if the created space is going to be used a bedroom in some cases.

Wood

Wood is one of the original building materials, pre-dating stone and brick which have come to replace it. Wood was seen as old-fashioned and impractical but modern developments have brought it back to the list of the best materials.